Aliquippa will compete in the WPIAL Class 4A championship game for the fifth time in six years, an accomplishment that Quips coach Mike Warfield says should always come with a footnote.
His note would be a reminder that Aliquippa is still a small school playing against much larger opponents.
“Everybody always forgets the footnote,” Warfield said after seventh-seeded Aliquippa defeated No. 3 New Castle, 14-0, in a semifinal Friday. “I don’t want to get too much into the footnote, but you’ve got a (Class) 2A team playing up to 4A.”
The two WPIAL opponents that Aliquippa defeated in this year’s playoffs had more than twice as many students.
PIAA enrollment numbers lists Aliquippa with 156 boys in grades 9-11, the years used to determine classifications. Trinity has 422 boys, New Castle has 370 and championship opponent McKeesport has 421.
“These kids should be celebrated, but a lot of people overlook that,” Warfield said. “Instead of celebrating, it’s always an issue, it’s always a problem. But we can’t lean on that as a crutch. Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. But that footnote is still there.”
Ironically, Friday’s win likely keeps the Quips in Class 4A for two more years.
That’s because the same PIAA competitive-balance rule that forced Aliquippa to 4A has a mechanism that can prevent a team from dropping down to its proper classification. If a football team accumulates one, two or three “success points” in a two-year cycle and adds five or more transfers, that team remains in the higher classification.
That means Aliquippa likely stays in 4A.
The Quips earned one success point by reaching the WPIAL finals, which the PIAA counts as a first-round game in the state playoffs. The team has added a number of transfers, including some who’ve already since left the school to enroll elsewhere.
How the PIAA views those transfers might ultimately decide the team’s future.
In a recent rewrite of the competitive-balance rule, the PIAA included a caveat that some transfers could be excluded from a school’s total if a change in living situation was necessitated “by exceptional and unusual circumstances beyond the reasonable control of the student or the student’s family.” Aliquippa administrators have insisted in past years that the school has more transfers because of the community’s transient nature.
If Aliquippa had lost to New Castle, the Quips could’ve dropped to 3A without issue.
Two years ago, the PIAA tried to promote Aliquippa to Class 5A, a move that the school defeated in court. A move to 5A isn’t a possibility this time.
All good things must end
This was a rough week for some of the WPIAL’s top feel-good stories.
At least seven teams that experienced a resurgence in the past year or two saw their seasons end with a loss Friday. That list includes Apollo-Ridge, Chartiers-Houston, Frazier, Hopewell, New Castle, Norwin and South Allegheny. All seven had suffered through a season with two or fewer wins at some point since 2023, yet they all reached the second week of this year’s playoffs.
Apollo-Ridge improved from winning one game last season to eight this year and earned a spot in the Class 2A quarterfinals. The Vikings lost to Western Beaver, 41-14.
“Our kids have battled all year and figured out how to play football at Apollo-Ridge,” Vikings coach John Skiba said after Friday’s game. “We put ourselves back on the map.”
South Allegheny is only two years removed from a 1-9 season, yet the Gladiators won nine games last season and 10 this year. They were trying to reach the WPIAL semifinals for the first time since 1977, but a 31-7 loss to Washington blocked their path.
“We’re almost there as a program — we just have to learn how to win those big moments,” South Allegheny coach Brian Hanson said Friday.
New Castle is two years removed from a couple of one-win seasons, yet the Red Hurricanes won nine games this year to claim the Parkway Conference title. They lost to Aliquippa, 12-0, in a Class 4A semifinal.
“I’m so proud of them because of where we came from,” second-year New Castle coach Fred Mozzocio said. “They were 1-9 in back-to-back years before I got here.”
Chartiers-Houston won eight games and celebrated its first playoff victory since 2000 after winning just three games last season and none two years ago. The Buccaneers lost to Laurel, 40-21, in a Class A quarterfinal.
A two-win team last season, Frazier won seven games this year and reached the Class A quarterfinals. The Commodores lost to Bishop Canevin, 50-7.
A one-win team in 2023, Hopewell improved to four wins last year, seven this year and qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2012. The Vikings lost to Imani Christian, 59-21, in a Class 3A quarterfinal.
Norwin made the playoffs for the first time since 2017 after upping its wins total from two last year to seven. The Knights lost to North Allegheny, 35-17, in a Class 6A semifinal.
Record-setting nights
Two WPIAL standouts broke records in winning efforts Friday.
• McKeesport running back Kemon Spell has another year of high school ahead of him but has already broken the Tigers’ career rushing record. The star junior ran for 331 yards Friday in a Class 4A semifinal win over Thomas Jefferson to surpass the previous mark set in 2008 by Travis McBride (3,458 yards).
Spell has 3,761 yards.
• Upper St. Clair quarterback Ethan Hellmann became his school’s all-time leading passer during Friday’s Class 5A quarterfinal win over Woodland Hills. The fourth-year starter has 5,478 career yards after throwing for 125 yards.
Split decisions
Seven of the eight playoff games on Friday in Class 4A, 5A and 6A were rematches from the regular season. Three of the matchups produced a different result this time.
Moon, McKeesport and Aliquippa all avenged regular season losses.
Moon defeated Penn-Trafford, 20-13, after losing, 25-24, in Week 2. McKeesport avenged a 16-7 loss to Thomas Jefferson in Week 2 with a 28-3 win. Aliquippa lost to New Castle, 18-12, in Week 5, but rebounded to win 14-0.
Also facing rematches were Central Catholic, North Allegheny, Pine-Richland and Peters Township, who all won in the regular season and again in the playoffs.
Central Catholic won 45-10 and 44-7 over Canon McMillan. North Allegheny defeated Norwin, 20-17 and 35-17. Pine-Richland topped Shaler, 49-17 and 42-10. Peters Township defeated Bethel Park, 35-0 and 42-14.
Shutout streak snaps
Jeannette did something that hadn’t been done since Week Zero.
The Jayhawks scored against Clairton, whose defense hadn’t allowed a point since August. In fact, the Jayhawks scored 33 points, broke a nine-game shutout streak and briefly led in what was ultimately a 38-33 loss for Jeannette.
The 33 points were the most allowed by Clairton in a playoff game since a 45-14 loss to Jeannette in the 2020 championship.
Staff writer Don Rebel contributed.